Exterminating the Mountain Stronghold

"Move!"

Within the dense forest, Elder Fang Tu's eyes flashed coldly. His withered hand slashed downward as he barked in a low voice.

Including him, five figures shot out from their hiding places like cheetahs that had lain in wait for ages, pouncing straight toward the mountain stronghold built amid perilous terrain.

All five were Inner Qi Realm elders, incredibly swift. After several rises and falls along the steep mountain path, they had already crossed half the distance.

"Enemy attack!!!"

High atop the watchtower, the bandit on guard saw his pupils contract sharply. He let out a shrill scream and desperately struck the bronze gong at his side.

"Clang! Clang! Clang—!"

The piercing alarm gong instantly tore apart the stronghold's tranquility.

Almost in the next instant, shadows stirred behind the battlements, and dozens of bandit archers emerged.

They were well trained. Drawing their bows and nocking arrows, their icy arrowheads gleamed with a chilling light beneath the morning sun, locking onto the five rapidly approaching figures below like venomous snakes.

"Loose!"

At a shouted command, bowstrings twanged like a sudden downpour.

A dense barrage of arrows howled through the air, transforming into a black rain of death that descended upon the five elders.

"Hmph!"

Elder Fang Tu, charging at the front as an Eighth Grade Martial Artist, snorted coldly. Without any visible preparation, the seemingly ancient saber at his waist suddenly left its sheath.

The blade trembled with a deep hum. A massive, pale-green Blade Qi, visible to the naked eye and condensed to the extreme, flew from its edge and swept forward!

"Boom—!"

Where the Blade Qi passed, even the air seemed to be torn apart. The dense arrow rain was as though it had crashed into an invisible wall of bronze and iron.

Most of the arrows were instantly shredded by the violent Blade Qi, exploding into splinters and iron fragments that scattered through the air!

At the same time, the other four elders each deployed their own methods.

Some struck out repeatedly with both palms, their mighty Internal Qi surging from their bodies and forming millstone-sized palm imprints that slapped away the arrows which had slipped through the net.

Others flicked their sword tips rapidly, their sharp Sword Qi precisely shattering arrows in midair.

The five Inner Qi Realm elders joined forces and blocked the entire volley!

Their speed did not slow in the slightest as they charged boldly beneath the stronghold walls.

There was no need to climb at all. They used lightness arts, tapping the rough wall with their toes and borrowing the force to soar upward, leaping onto the several-zhang-high wall like eagles!

"Kill!"

The bandits atop the wall tried to resist, but how could they possibly be a match for these Inner Qi Realm elders?

Amid flashing blades and dancing swords, accompanied by shrill screams, the bandits on the wall were swiftly cut down as easily as chopping melons and vegetables.

"Open the gates!"

At Elder Fang Tu's command, one elder swung his blade and severed the thick gate bar. The heavy gates slowly opened with a piercing creak.

"Charge!"

Fang Han, Fang Hong, and several dozen other Fang Clan martial artists, who had already taken the chance to reach the foot of the walls, surged into the stronghold like floodwaters bursting through a breached dam!

"What's going on?!"

"Damn it, the Fang Clan has attacked!"

The three stronghold chiefs rushed over with a large group of bandits, only to see that the walls had fallen and the Fang Clan martial artists had already stormed into the stronghold.

Even the government of Liangshui City had failed to breach this stronghold, yet it had been taken so easily. Their hearts immediately sank with foreboding.

What they did not know was that the Liangshui City government's strength lay mainly in its large number of troops, suited for charging into battle. In terms of high-level martial artists alone, the government of Liangshui City was inferior to the Fang Clan.

And against terrain that was easy to defend but difficult to attack, high-level martial artists were more important than troop numbers.

"Today, either they die or we're finished! Fight them to the end!"

The chief, Snake One, roared in fury. Wielding a Nine-Ring Broadsword, he led the second chief, Snake Two, and the third chief, Snake Three, to meet Elder Fang Tu and the other four.

However, there was a clear disparity in strength between the two sides.

Elder Fang Tu was an Eighth Grade Martial Artist, while Snake One, the strongest of the three chiefs, was merely at the Ninth-rank late stage.

Not to mention the other four Ninth Grade Inner Qi elders. Whether in strength or numbers, the Fang Clan held the advantage.

"Bang! Bang! Bang—"

Blade Qi crisscrossed as palm winds howled.

The moment they clashed, the three chiefs were completely suppressed. They could only barely hold on; defeat was merely a matter of time.

Elsewhere, several dozen Fang Clan martial artists, the weakest of whom were at Tendon Refining, charged into the bandits.

Fang Han held the Azure Edge Sword, his figure moving like the wind as he rushed toward the bandits.

"Breeze Brushing Willow!"

A light flash of sword light swept past. Several bandits who were merely at Skin Refining and the Flesh Refining Realm had not even seen their attacker clearly before feeling a chill at their throats and dying on the spot.

In Fang Han's hands, the Breeze Sword Art at the Mastery Realm had become an efficient killing martial art.

Every sword strike was incomparably precise, aimed straight at vital points, without a single superfluous flourish.

"What terrifying swordsmanship!"

Watching several companions no weaker than himself get killed in a very short time, a Flesh Refining Realm bandit who had originally wanted to charge at Fang Han was scared out of his wits.

He hurriedly retreated, widening the distance between himself and Fang Han.

"Pfft—"

Fang Han thrust his sword at the fleeing bandit. Seeing that Fang Han's sword was clearly too short to reach him, the bandit was just about to breathe a sigh of relief.

Then he saw a faintly visible force shoot from Fang Han's sword.

Like a hidden weapon, that force swiftly pierced through his chest, leaving a bloody hole there.

Never expecting this Fang Clan disciple to possess such a method, unwillingness filled his eyes as his body crashed to the ground.

"Another one killed!"

Fang Han did not look at the dead bandit. He turned and charged toward the other bandits.

The force he had just fired was not Internal Qi released from the body. Rather, under the Mastery Realm sword art, it was force created by compressing the air.

Displayed with his current Tendon Refining Late-Stage strength, its power was far inferior to an Inner Qi Realm martial artist's released Internal Qi, but it was still enough to kill a Flesh Refining Realm martial artist.

"Brat, you're courting death!"

A minor bandit leader whose strength had reached Tendon Refining Late-Stage noticed Fang Han slaughtering all around him.

With an enraged roar, he gripped a Ghost Head Blade and hacked down with immense force.

Sensing that the attacking bandit was no ordinary opponent, Fang Han's gaze sharpened and he did not dare let down his guard.

"Clang! Clang! Clang—"

The strength of Tendon Refining Late-Stage was pushed to its limit. The Azure Edge Sword became a series of afterimages—blocking, deflecting, and thrusting—dissolving the opponent's ferocious attacks one by one as the clashing of metal rang without end.

This bandit leader's blade techniques were vicious and his experience seasoned, yet before Fang Han's Breeze Sword Art, which had reached Mastery and was fluid and nimble, he constantly felt unable to bring his strength to bear.

It was as if every slash struck empty air, while that elusive sword tip instead forced him back again and again.

After more than a dozen exchanges, the bandit leader overextended a Mountain Splitting Strike, leaving the opening in his chest wide open.

"Now!"

A brilliant gleam burst from Fang Han's eyes as he seized this fleeting opportunity. His blood and qi surged within him, and he stabbed out with "Breeze Piercing Sun"!

Force gathered at the sword tip, and its speed reached the absolute extreme.

"Pfft!"

The Azure Edge Sword precisely pierced the bandit leader's heart.

The bandit leader's charging body suddenly froze, and the savage grin on his face turned into incredulous shock.

He lowered his head to look at the longsword that had pierced through his chest. His eyes rapidly dimmed, and with a thud, he collapsed to the ground.

A Tendon Refining Late-Stage bandit leader had perished just like that!

Not far away, Elder Fang Tu was fiercely battling the three chiefs, but part of his attention remained fixed on the battlefield, especially on those promising youths ranked in the top ten of the Inner Hall.

Seeing Fang Han so cleanly leapfrog his level to kill a Tendon Refining Late-Stage bandit, a trace of approval could not help but flash through his eyes.

Late-stage Tendon Refining, swordsmanship at Mastery, calm in actual combat, and precise timing. This boy truly is extraordinary!

The other elders had also noticed Fang Han's performance to varying degrees, and all secretly nodded.

They had heard the rumors of the Fang Clan's Qilin Child, but had never met Fang Han before this. Now that they had seen him, the rumors were true.

With such a Qilin Child in the Fang Clan, the future was promising!

The battle had become utterly one-sided.

The five elders crushed their opponents in strength. New wounds continuously appeared on the three chiefs' bodies, and their defeat was already apparent.

Below, the bandits were being surrounded and exterminated by the Fang Clan martial artists, their screams rising one after another.

Before long, Elder Fang Tu beheaded Snake One with an incomparably fierce Blade Qi.

Another elder shattered Snake Two's heart meridians with one palm strike.

Snake Three, the last to resist while wounded, was also pierced through the throat by an elder's longsword.

All three stronghold chiefs were executed!

With the three chiefs dead, the other bandits had even less ability to resist. Every last one was killed, and not a single person escaped.

The extermination campaign against the Black Snake Bandits ended in a complete victory for the Fang Clan.

The smell of blood permeated the mountain stronghold. Fang Han stood in the middle of the field with his sword in hand, the bloodstains on the Azure Edge Sword long since shaken clean.

He breathed lightly as he looked at the corpses covering the ground and smelled the rusty scent permeating the air.

This was his second experience of slaughter, and he still felt somewhat unaccustomed to it. But compared to nearly vomiting the first time, he was undoubtedly much better.